The annual wholesale price inflation eased in January for the second straight month after touching an eight-month high in November, helped by a softer rise in food and fuel prices, government data showed on Thursday.

Annual wholesale price inflation last month slowed to 2.84 per cent from a year earlier, from a provisional 3.58 per cent rise in December.

The rise in January compares with a 3.25 per cent increase forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

Wholesale food prices in January rose 1.65 per cent year-on-year, compared with a 2.91 per cent rise a month earlier, the data showed.